PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES 

OF    THE_....._...  

MARTYRED  PRESIDENT  *# 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


BY  HIS  NEIGHBOR  AND 
INTIMATE  FRIEND.  '  .  ' 

DR.  WILLIAM  JAYNE 


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FOREWORD 


FOREWORD 

OF    THE 

GRAND  ARMY  HALL  AND  MEMORIAL  ASSOCIATION 

OF  ILLINOIS. 


The  following  pages  contain  the  address  made  by 
Dr.  William  Jayne  to  the  Grand  Army  Hall  and 
Memorial  Association  of  Illinois,  at  the  Public  Hall  of 
that  Association  in  Chicago,  February  12th,  1900, 
during  the  Annual  Exercises  held  in  honor  and  in 
recognition  of  the  Birthday  of 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Dr.  Jayne  is  a  native  and  resident  of  Springfield, 
Illinois,  and  was  a  neighbor,  political  and  social  friend 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  from  1836  until  the  latter's  death 
in  1865. 

The  Doctor  was  educated  at  Illinois  College,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Alpha  Literary  Society  of  that 
College.  He  was  largely  responsible  for  the  delivery 
to  this  Society  by  Mr.  Lincoln  of  the  lecture  to  which 
he  refers  in  these  reminiscences. 

He  was  elected  a  State  Senator  in  the  Springfield 
Senatorial  District  at  the  November  election,  i860, 
becoming  at  that  time  a  leading  Republican,  and  has 
so  continued  until  the  present. 

After  Mr.  Lincoln  became  President  he  appointed 
Dr.  Jayne  the  first  Territorial  Governor  of  the  Dako- 
tas,  which  important  place  he  filled  with  distinguished 


ability.  After  serving  as  Governor  he  resumed  the 
practice  of  his  profession  at  Springfield,  and  has  con- 
tinued the  same  with  marked  success  up  to  the  present 
time.  During  his  long  and  eventful  career  he  has 
been  actively  interested  in  public  affairs.  For  several 
years  he  has  been  and  still  is  President  of  the 
valuable  Lincoln  Library  at  Springfield,  for  the  build- 
ing of  which  the  philanthropic  and  large-hearted  An- 
drew Carnegie  donated  the  sum  of  $75,000. 

There  are  now  living  few  men  who  knew  Lincoln 
as  well  or  who  enjoyed  his  sincere  confidence,  trustful 
and  continuing  friendship,  as  did  Dr.  Jayne. 

The  following  address  consists  largely  of  the  per- 
sonal experiences,  observations  and  reflections  of  an 
educated,  trustworthy  and  devoted  friend  of  the  Great 
Emancipator. 

FRANCIS  A.  RIDDLE,  President, 
Grand  Army  Hall  and  Memorial  Association 
April,  1900. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES 


OF    THE 


MARTYRED  PRESIDENT 


Abraham  Lincoln 


BY  HIS  NEIGHBOR  AND 
INTIMATE  FRIEND 

DR.  WILLIAM  JAYNE 


An  Address 
DELIVERED  BY  DR.  JAYNE 

TO  THE 

GRAND  ARMY  HALL  AND  MEMORIAL  ASSOCIATION 

February  12,  1900 


published  by  the 

Grand  Army  Hall  and  Memorial 

Association 


Copyright  by  William  Jayne,  1908. 
All  Rights  Reserved. 


glfcrafjam  Lincoln 


Veterans  of  the  War 

for  the  Preservation  of  the  Union. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  indulge  to-day  in  any  ex- 
tended relation  of  the  justly  celebrated  political  debate 
between  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
which  took  place  in  1858,  or  concerning  Mr.  Lincoln's 
administration  of  the  Federal  Government  from  1861 
to  1865.  Both  of  these  events  are  well  known  to 
every  intelligent  and  well-informed  person  in  our 
whole  country ;  and  more  especially  as  that  great  de- 
bate and  Mr.  Lincoln's  acts  and  deeds  during  the 
period  covered  by  the  Civil  War  is  an  open  book, 
with  the  contents  of  which  you  are  all  familiar.  It 
is  my  purpose  to  relate  facts  which  bear  upon  his 
youthful  days  and  the  incidents  of  his  young  man- 
hood, which  are  personally  known  to  me ;  incidents 
which  may  seem  small  in  themselves,  but  which  yet 
serve  to  show  and  illustrate  his  habits,  traits  of  his 
character,  the  impulses  of  his  heart,  his  sense  of  humor 
and  his  habits  of  melancholy — in  a  word,  his  peculiar 
and  varied  moods  in  all  the  affairs  of  his  life,  whether 

13 


they  were  great  or  small,  private  or  public,  and  to  tell 
you  what  I  have  known  personally  of  his  pure,  kind, 
gentle,   decided,  and   steadfast  life. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  unusually  sensitive  and  con- 
scientious man  at  all  times  and  in  every  relation  of 
life,  and  never,  either  in  his  youth  or  manhood,  did 
he  knowingly  do  wrong  to  any  person  or  any  cause. 

More  than  thirty-five  years  have  passed  since  his 
tragic  death.  More  than  sixty  eventful  years  have 
gone  by  since  he  bade  farewell  to  New  Salem  and  the 
friends  of  his  early  manhood  and  settled  in  Spring- 
field, where  he  commenced  the  practice  of  law  along 
with  the  late  Major  John  T.  Stuart,  who  had  been  his 
colleague  in  the  Illinois  Legislature  of  1836.  There 
is  probably  not  a  man  or  woman  living  there  to-day 
who  was  of  adult  age  when  Mr.  Lincoln  left  the  town 
of  New  Salem. 

As  I  stand  in  the  presence  of  veterans  who 
participated  in  the  greatest  military  conflict  which 
occurred  during  the  nineteenth  century,  I  realize 
that  not  many  years  will  intervene  before  the  last 
person  who  has  ever  taken  Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  hand, 
and  looked  into  that  kind  and  familiar  face,  will  have 
passed  from  the  earth.  So  I  feel  that  it  is  well  for 
those  who  knew  him  personally  as  a  neighbor  and 
friend,  to  gather  up  the  facts,  great  and  small,  which 
have  been  known  to  us  personally,  or  which  have  been 
related  without  prejudice  or  partiality  concerning  him, 
and  record  such  facts  and  incidents  for  the  benefit  and 
instruction  of  those  who  come  after  us.     In  narrating 

14 


events  and  recalling  the  incidents  which  gather  about 
and  cling  to  the  story  of  his  life  it  is  my  purpose,  and 
my  only  purpose,  to  adhere  strictly  to  the  truth  in  re- 
calling those  events  and  incidents,  so  that  those  who 
follow  us  will  know  the  real  man,  the  true,  the  im- 
mortal Lincoln. 

Let  me  repeat,  if  the  story  of  his  life  is  truthfully 
and  courageously  told — nothing  being  either  colored 
or  suppressed,  nothing  false  being  either  written  or 
suggested — the  coming  generations  will  see  and  feel 
the  presence  of  the  living  man. 

Let  us  not  be  oversensitive  about  Lincoln's  origin 
and  ancestry.  If  his  birth  was  humble,  and  if  he  was 
descended  from  that  innumerable  class  whom  we  des- 
ignate as  the  poor,  and  if  he  was  recognized  and  re- 
garded during  his  entire  career  as  one  of  the  laboring 
people  of  the  world,  then  these  environments  of  this 
great  man  are  indisputable  evidence  that  he  knew  from 
experience  the  severe  struggles  and  the  necessities  of 
self-denial  which  were  woven  into  and  became  the  woof 
of  the  life  and  ambitions  of  an  heroic  manhood.  These 
human  experiences  were  of  necessity  a  priceless  dis- 
cipline to  a  soul  inspired ;  to  a  man  of  exalted  ambi- 
tion and  unyielding  determination  to  gain  a  place  and 
wield  a  power  among  men  for  the  purpose  of  uplift- 
ing the  race,  and  for  the  benefit  of  his  country  and 
mankind. 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  ambitious,  but  his 
was  a  laudable  ambition.  He  once  said  to  his  closest 
friend,   Joshua   Speed,   that  he   did   not   wish   to  die 

15 


until  the  world  was  better  for  his  having  lived. 

I  think  we  shall  all  agree  that  his  was  a  beautiful, 
blameless  and  beneficial  life.  Compare  his  life  and 
career  with  that  of  Napoleon  or  Bismarck.  No  re- 
membrance of  hardships,  or  cruelty,  or  of  innocent 
blood  spilled,  disturbed  Lincoln's  composure.  If  he 
made  mistakes  it  was  to  pardon  the  offenses  and  save 
the  lives  of  youthful  soldiers  who  had  been  con- 
demned to  be  shot  for  sleeping  on  their  posts. 

I  first  met  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1836,  more  than  sixty 
years  ago.  He  was  then  residing  at  New  Salem,  where 
he  was  Deputy  Surveyor  under  Thomas  Neale,  and 
also  Postmaster  at  that  village.  He  had  then  served 
one  term  in  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  and  was 
again  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  Legislature  at  the 
election  to  be  held  in  the  following  August.  At  that 
time  there  was  something  about  this  ungainly  and 
poorly  clothed  young  man  that  foretold  to  an  observ- 
ing person  a  bright  future  in  public  and  political  life. 

At  this  meeting  we  had  a  dinner  on  that  day  at  the 
Rutledge  Tavern  in  New  Salem;  and  afterwards  dur- 
ing our  journey  along  the  road  from  New  Salem  to 
Huron,  where  Mr.  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  who  was  in 
our  party  on  that  drive,  and  my  father,  had  a  country 
store.  Mr.  Lincoln  became  the  subject  of  what 
we  then  called  the  "talk"  between  Mr.  Edwards 
and  my  father.  Some  time  afterwards  Mr. 
Edwards  became  a  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
What  was  said  about  Lincoln  during  that  conversation 
I  now  remember  as  distinctly  and  vividly  as  if  it  had 

16 


occurred  only  on  yesterday.  Among  other  things  my 
father  said  to  Mr.  Edwards,  "Edwards,  that  young 
man,  Lincoln,  will  some  day  be  Governor  of  Illinois." 
I  was  then  only  a  lad  ten  years  of  age  and  thought 
my  father  was  a  very  hopeful  prophet.  I  had  seen  at 
Springfield  two  Governors  of  Illinois,  Ninian  Edzuards 
of  Belleville  and  Joseph  Duncan  of  Jacksonville.  These 
two  Governors  often  came  to  Springfield  and  were 
always  well  dressed.  Each  came  in  his  carriage,  with 
fine  horses  and  olored  drivers.  Mr.  Lincoln  up  to 
this  time  had  only  been  a  captain  of  Volunteers  in  the 
Blackhawk  Indian  War  and  had  served  one  term  as 
a  member  of  the  Legislature.  He  did  not  then  look  to 
me  like  a  prospective  Governor.  I  then  had  in  my 
mind's  eye  those  stately  gentlemen,  Edwards  and 
Duncan,  but  it  seems  that  my  father's  foresight  was 
much  better  than  his  son's,  for  in  a  little  over  twenty 
years  this  poorly  clad  and  unknown  young  man  was 
the  chosen  ruler  of  a  nation  numbering  fifty  millions 
of  people,  and  was  commander-in-chief  of  more  than 
a  million  men — of  a  more  effective  and  potential  army 
than  Caesar  or  Napoleon  had  ever  marshalled  in  battle 
array. 

Of  Mr.  Lincoln's  birth  and  ancestry  little  need  be 
said.  That  is  a  subject  about  which  he  was  never 
communicative.  His  early  days  in  Hardin  County 
were  days  of  pinching  poverty  and  lustreless  obscurity ; 
these  were  the  pathetic  years  of  an  innocent  childhood 
which,  however,  he  never  cared  to  recall  and  linger 
over  as  a  pleasant  memory.     We  can  have  no  doubt 

17 


when  we  consider  what  we  know  of  the  history  of  the 
first  seven  years  of  his  life  spent  in  the  log  cabin  on 
Nolan's  Creek,  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  that  he  was 
poorly  clad  and  scantily  fed.  After  his  father  moved 
to  Spencer  County,  Indiana,  he  lived  in  a  little  half- 
faced  camp  for  one  year;  the  second  year  of  his  In- 
diana life  a  log  cabin  took  the  place  of  the  camp,  but 
this  cabin  was  without  window,  door  or  floor  for  a 
long  time. 

Food  was  abundant  and  game  was  plentiful ;  deer, 
bear,  wrild  turkeys,  ducks,  and  fish  in  every  stream. 
There  were  wild  fruits  of  many  kinds  in  the  summer 
months,  and  these  fruits  were  gathered  and  dried  for 
winter  use.  Potatoes  were  about  the  only  vegetable 
raised  in  abundance,  and  "corn  dodger"  was  the  daily 
bread  of  the  Lincoln  household.  The  supply  of  gro- 
ceries and  cooking  utensils  was  limited.  His  mother 
died  in  Indiana  in  the  year  1818  of  a  prevailing  dis- 
ease of  that  country  known  as  the  "milk  sick."  In 
the  year  1819  Lincoln's  father  went  back  to  Kentucky 
and  returned  to  his  Indiana  cabin  with  a  second  wife, 
in  the  person  of  the  widow  Johnson.  There  came  with 
Lincoln's  father  and  his  new  wife  three  of  the  second 
Mrs.  Lincoln's  children  by  her  first  husband.  The 
second  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  a  woman  of  great  gentleness, 
thrift  and  energy.  The  new  wife  promptly  made  the 
Indiana  cabin  homelike ;  and  effectually  and  cheer- 
fully taught  all  the  children  habits  of  cleanliness  and 
comfort.  The  bov — Abraham  Lincoln — soon  became 
very  fond  of  his  new  mother,  and  remained  so  all  the 

18 


years  of  his  life.  One  of  the  gracious  things  Mr. 
Lincoln  did — an  incident  which  shows  the  kindness  of 
his  heart  and  his  affectionate  disposition — was  that, 
soon  after  he  was  elected  president  and  before  leaving 
his  Springfield  home  to  be  inaugurated  President  of 
the  United  States,  ne  paid  this  mother,  who  then  lived 
in  Coles  County,  a  farewell  visit.  In  speaking  of  her 
he  always  called  her  his  "angel  mother/'  For  ten  years 
after  his  father's  second  marriage  he  lived  at  his 
father's  home,  laboring  on  his  father's  farm,  except 
when  his  father  hired  him  out  to  his  neighbors  to  hoe 
corn,  pull  fodder,  harvest  grain,  cut  wood  and  make 
rails. 

During  these  years  he  read  all  the  books  he  could 
get  possession  of.  He  was  hungry  for  books  and  read 
them  intently  all  of  his  spare  time,  studied  and  com- 
prehended their  contents.  He  had  no  taste  or  inclina- 
tion for  nor  was  he  given  to  any  kind  of  sports,  unless 
it  was  to  run  foot  races  and  "wrastle"  with  the  boys, 
at  which  he  was  an  adept.  Wrestling  and  foot  races 
were  a  means  of  recreation  to  young  Lincoln,  a  pastime 
at  which  he  was  almost  uniformly  a  winner. 

In  the  year  1830  his  restless  father  again  moved; 
this  time  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Sangamon  County. 
Here  he  built  a  log  cabin  and  made  rails  sufficient  to 
fence  in  ten  acres  of  land  for  a  farm. 

This  was  the  last  work  that  Lincoln  did  for  his 
father.  Having  now  arrived  at  his  majority  he  left 
home  and  started  out  into  the  world  to  shift  for  him- 
self, carrying  what  clothes   he  had,   except  those  he 

10 


wore  on  his  person,  in  a  bundle  at  the  end  of  a  stick 
or  cane  thrown  over  his  shoulder.  During  the  winter 
of  1836-37  he  and  his  step-brother,  John  Johnson,  and 
his  cousin,  John  Hanks,  hired  out  to  a  trader  named 
Denton  OfTutt,  to  take  charge  of  and  pilot  a  flat-boat 
down  the  Mississippi  River  to  New  Orleans.  The  flat- 
boat  was  loaded  with  country  produce  which  Ofrutt 
had  gathered  up  in  the  country  about  New  Salem. 
This  produce  was  needed  and  was  marketable  in  the 
Creole  city  of  the  South.  It  consisted  of  such  things 
as  butter,  lard,  eggs,  bacon,  pickled  pork,  turnips  and 
cabbage.  Failing  to  purchase  a  suitable  boat,  Lincoln 
and  Hanks  built  one  for  OfTutt  at  Sangamon,  on  the 
Sangamon  River,  six  miles  northwest  of  Springfield. 
On  his  way  down  the  Sangamon  River  the  boat  stuck 
on  the  dam  built  for  Rutledge's  mill,  just  beside  the 
village  of  New  Salem,  and  for  nearly  a  whole  day  it 
hung,  bow  in  the  air,  stern  in  the  water.  In  this  con- 
dition shipwreck  for  the  boat  seemed  almost  certain. 
The  villagers  of  New  Salem  turned  out  in  a  body  to 
see  what  the  strangers  would  do  to  save  their  boat, 
and  while  the  sight-seers  suggested  and  advised,  a  tall, 
big  fellow  of  the  crew  worked  out  a  plan  of 
relief  and  succeeded  in  tilting  his  craft  over  the  dam 
and  then  proceeded  on  the  wray  down  the  Sangamon. 
This  was  Lincoln's  second  trip  to  New  Orleans.  There 
he  witnessed  a  public  sale  of  slave  negroes.  A  young 
mulatto  girl  was  placed  on  the  block,  and  as  the 
auctioneer  was  calling  for  the  highest  bidder  white 
man  after  white  man  walked  around  the  auction  block, 

20 


handling  the  girl  as  you  would  feel  the  points  and 
parts  of  a  horse.  Lincoln  became  incensed  and  out- 
raged at  this  sight.  He  turned  and  walked  away  and 
expressed  to  his  companion  his  hatred  of  slavery,  say- 
ing to  his  step-brother,  "If  ever  I  get  a  chance  to  hit 
the  system  of  slavery  I  will  hit  it  hard."  He  kept  his 
word — the  proclamation  of  emancipation. 

There  was  something  about  the  people  in  the  village 
of  New  Salem  which  fascinated  Lincoln.  On  his  re- 
turn from  the  South,  after  a  brief  visit  to  his  old 
home,  he  went  back  to  New  Salem,  settled  there,  and 
spent  the  next  seven  years  of  his  early  and  eventful 
life  there.  Here  he  lived,  loved,  hoped,  worked  and 
sported  to  the  extent  of  wrestling  with  the  boys  and 
running  foot  races  with  the  athletes — laughed  and 
joked,  grew  merry  or  serious,  as  his  varied  moods 
impressed  his  mental  disposition.  Here  he  made  fast 
friends  and  commenced  his  wonderful  political  career. 
Llere  he,  as  clerk  of  the  election  board,  performed  his 
first  official  act.  Here  he  became  acquainted  with 
Green  and  Armstrong,  Kelso  and  Duncan,  Alley  and 
Carmer,  Herndon  and  Radford,  Hill  and  McNamara, 
Rutledge  and  Berry,  and  many  other  pioneers  of  the 
vicinity.  New  Salem  soon  became  to  him  what  Venice 
was  to  Byron,  "A  fairy  city  of  the  heart,  Of  joy  the 
sojourn,  and  of  wealth  the  mart."  There  were  here  to 
be  found  the  best  specimens  of  the  pioneer  settler, 
hearty,  industrious,  kind  and  courageous  men  and 
women.  As  a  physician  of  early  days  I  knew  them 
intimately  and  loved  them  well.    I  knew  their  foibles, 

21 


which  were  superficial,  and  their  virtues,  which  were 
innate  and  lovable.  Lincoln's  first  permanent  employ- 
ment was  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  OfTutt,  where  he 
continued  until  the  spring  of  1832.  That  was  the  year 
and  time  when  the  Indian  War  broke  out,  upon  the 
return  of  the  Indian  chief,  Blackhawk,  and  his  band, 
with  the  purpose  of  reoccupying  their  old  homes  in  the 
Rock  River  country.  When  the  Governor  of  Illinois 
called  for  soldiers  Lincoln  volunteered,  was  elected  and 
served  as  Captain  of  his  company  during  the  Black- 
hawk  War. 

After  the  defeat  of  Blackhawk  at  the  battle  of  Bad 
Axe  and  the  close  of  the  war,  he  returned  home  and, 
in  partnership  with  Berry,  bought  a  store  and  became 
a  merchant  in  general  country  trade.  He  soon  dis- 
covered he  was  not  a  success  as  a  merchant  and  sold 
his  stock  of  goods,  and  was  appointed  Postmaster  of 
New  Salem  by  President  Martin  Van  Buren.  To  help 
out  a  living  he  became  a  Deputy  Surveyor — having  ac- 
quired by  his  own  efforts  sufficient  knowledge  of  geom- 
etry and  the  art  of  surveying  to  equip  him  for  that 
work.  He  was  afterwards  twice  elected  a  member  of 
the  lower  house  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  during 
these  years  he  studied  law  and  frequently  appeared  be- 
fore Justices  of  the  Peace  as  counsel  or  attorney  for 
those  interested  in  such  suits.  He  was  soon  licensed 
to  practice  law,  which  profession  he  pursued  in  Illi- 
nois successfully  until  he  was  elected  President  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  spring  of  1837  he  moved  to 
Springfield    and    commenced    his    enlarged    life    as   a 

22 


lawyer,  and  then  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Major 
John  T.  Stuart,  with  whom  he  had  served  in  the  Leg- 
islature. Here  he  met  and  contended  at  the  bar  with 
the  brightest  and  ablest  lawyers  of  the  State,  such  as 
Stephen  T.  Logan,  Edward  D.  Baker,  Lyman  Trum- 
bull, Colonel  John  J.  Hardin,  N.  M.  Purple,  Murray 
McConnell  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  It  is  not  going 
too  far  to  say  that  Lincoln  held  his  own  before  judge 
and  jury  with  the  best  legal  talent  of  the  State. 

To  show  Lincoln's  care  of  trust  funds  and  his  un- 
flinching and  unswerving  integrity  I  mention  this  inci- 
dent. I  know  that  after  he  had  moved  to  Springfield 
Mr.  James  Brown,  the  traveling  postofiice  agent  or 
inspector,  came  into  Robert  Irwin's  store  in  Springfield 
and  inquired  where  he  could  find  Mr.  Lincoln,  whom 
he  said  was  former  Postmaster  at  New  Salem ;  that 
he,  Brown,  wished  to  collect  the  money  of  the  United 
States  still  in  Lincoln's  possession.  The  late  William 
Butler  being  present  at  the  interview  between  Brown 
and  Irwin  said  to  Mr.  Brown,  "I  will  see  Mr.  Lincoln 
at  my  house  at  dinner  and  get  him  to  call  on  you  at 
the  hotel."  When  dinner  time  came  Mr.  Butler  told 
Mr.  Lincoln  that  Mr.  Brown  was  in  town  and  what 
Brown's  business  was.  Mr.  Butler,  thinking  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  might  not  have  the  money  to  settle  his  post- 
office  collections,  said  to  Lincoln,  "I  will  let  you  have 
the  money  to  settle  up  your  postofiice  account."  Lincoln 
replied,  "I  thank  you  very  much,  but  I  have  all  the 
money  in  my  trunk  which  belongs  to  the  Government." 
The  identical  silver,  consisting  of  quarters,  twelve  and 

33 


one-half  cent  pieces,  or  "bits"  as  we  called  them,  and 
"picayunes,"  had  been  safely  put  away  by  Lincoln  in 
an  old  sock  which  he  had  placed  in  his  trunk,  ready 
any  day  for  an  immediate  settlement  of  his  official  ac- 
count. If  every  man  handling  Government  or  other 
trust  funds  was  as  careful  as  Lincoln  was  there  would 
be  no  defalcations. 

Mrs.  Dallman,  wife  of  ex-Alderman  Dallman,  de- 
lights in  telling  how  kind  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln 
were  to  her  many  years  ago  when  she  lived  in  her 
small  home  just  across  the  street  from  where  the 
,  Lincolns  lived.  It  was  when  little  Thomas  Lincoln 
was  a  nursing  child ;  Mrs.  Dallman  became  very  sick, 
had  no  help,  and  an  infant  girl  to  take  care  of.  She 
relates  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  often  nursed  her  little  child, 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  rocked  the  cradle  until  her  baby  was 
happily  asleep. 

There  was  not  a  particle  of  avarice  in  Lincoln's 
mental  make-up.  Greediness  of  wealth  was  absolutely 
foreign  to  his  nature.  He  wanted  money  sufficient  to 
pay  the  ordinary  living  expenses  of  his  household, 
but  he  did  not  care  for  gold  just  because  he  loved  to 
have  and  handle  it.  To  illustrate  this  statement  I  will 
relate  a  little  story  of  our  college  society,  of  Illinois 
College — the  Phi  Alpha  Literary  Society — and  his  con- 
nection with  said  society.  It  was  customary  for  this 
society  to  give  a  series  of  lectures  during  the  college 
year,  the  profits  of  which  were  expended  in  the  pur- 
chase of  books  for  the  society  library.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  engaged  to  deliver  one  of  these  lectures.     After 

24 


his  lecture  was  over  and  the  audience  had  left  the  hall 
in  which  the  lecture  was  given,  he  recognized  the  fact 
that  the  audience  was  not  large  and  therefore  the  re- 
ceipts must  have  been  rather  small.  Mr.  Lincoln,  with 
a  kind  smile,  said  to  the  president  of  the  society,  "I 
have  not  made  much  money  for  you  to-night."  In 
reply  the  president  said,  "When  we  pay  for  the  rent 
of  the  hall,  music  and  advertising  and  your  compensa- 
tion, there  will  not  be  much  left  to  buy  books  with  for 
the  library."  "Well,  boys,  be  hopeful ;  pay  me  my  rail- 
road fare  and  50  cents  for  my  supper  at  the  hotel  and 
we  are  square."  That  showed  our  subject's  kindness 
and  liberality  all  over,  yet  at  that  day  he  was  not  bur- 
dened with  cash  and  could  have  found  good  use  for 
a  few  extra  dollars.  He  thought  our  poor  society 
needed  the  money  more  than  he  did. 

Mr.  Lincoln  after  his  arrival  in  Springfield  boarded 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Butler,  the  second  house  west  of 
my  father's  home.  I  often  observed  him  as  he  passed 
to  and  fro  from  his  meals  to  his  office.  He  usually 
walked  alone,  his  head  inclined  as  if  he  were  absorbed 
in  deep  thought,  unmindful  of  surrounding  objects 
and  persons.  Although  he  had  his  wonderful  gift  of 
humor,  I  venture  to  assert  that  in  the  long  run  of 
years  life  was  to  him  serious  and  earnest. 

He  once  said  to  Joshua  Speed,  his  close  friend, 
"Speed,  when  I  am  dead  I  wish  my  friends  to  remem- 
ber that  I  always  pluck  a  thorn  and  plant  a  rose  when 
in  my  power."  He  roomed  with  Speed  over  Speed's 
store  on  the  west  side  of  the  public  square  in  Spring- 
field. 

25 


If  asked  what  in  my  opinion  were  the  marked  qual- 
ities of  his  mental  organization,  or,  in  other  words, 
what  were  the  salient  traits  of  his  character,  I  would 
reply,  his  kindness  and  patience,  his  integrity,  humor, 
patriotism  and  ambition,  and  his  mental  and  physical 
courage.  His  integrity  is  proved  by  all  his  acts,  pri- 
vate, public  and  official.  He  never  betrayed  a  cause, 
a  party,  or  a  friend.  His  kindness  and  humanity  were 
innate  and  he  was  always  considerate  of  man,  beast, 
or  bird.  He  was  ambitious,  but  sought  public  position 
because  he  expected  always  to  benefit  his  country  and 
his  kind. 

I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  the  domestic 
home  of  Lincoln  was  ideal,  but  I  do  say,  without 
hesitation,  that  it  was  a  happy  home.  The  husband 
was  kind  and  considerate,  the  wife  bright,  impul- 
sive, educated,  generous,  industrious  and  lovable ; 
a  good  wife  and  a  fond  mother.  This  much  I  feel  it 
my  duty  to  say,  on  this  anniversary  of  his  birth,  that 
in  the  Lincoln  home,  where  many  of  us,  his  and  her 
life-long  friends,  have  partaken  of  their  hospitality, 
that  Lincoln's  home  was  to  be  envied  and  imitated. 

His  moral  courage  was  potent  and  sublime,  as  often 
shown  in  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  and  his  patriotic,  wise  and  effi- 
cient administration  of  the  national  Government  in 
that  critical  period  of  the  war  between  the  States.  His 
love  of  justice  and  right  was  manifest  to  all  in  every 
act  of  his  entire  life.  During  the  long  and  dreary  days 
of  the  war  his  patience  and  kindly  heart  won  the  ad- 
miration of  all  his  countrymen. 

26 


By  his  decision  of  character  and  avowal  of  his  con- 
victions that  the  slave-holder  had  no  right  to  hold  a 
slave  in  the  territories  of  the  Union,  he  lost  a  Senato- 
rial race  in  1858,  only  to  win  the  Presidency  in  i860. 

I  venture  to  say  that  no  man  was  less  elated  by 
prosperity  or  less  depressed  by  adversity.  He  was  so 
mentally  balanced  that  he  could  calmly  share  triumph 
or  endure  defeat. 

I  am  sure  that  I  am  not  extravagant  when  I 
state  that  in  my  opinion  the  law  was  not  his 
first  love;  he  adopted  the  profession  of  law  as  a  means 
of  livelihood.  But  I  am  sure  that  more  likely  he 
adopted  the  profession  of  law  as  the  most  direct  road 
to,  and  which  would  lead  to,  his  promotion  in  a  polit- 
ical career.  I  think  he  felt  always  much  more  interest 
in,  and  loved  to  discuss,  political  issues  and  affairs 
of  state,  more  than  he  did  to  consider  questions  in- 
volved in  lesral  transactions  and  lawsuits,  about  busi- 
ness  and  dealings   between  man  and  man. 

He  was  anti-slavery  in  his  heart  and  in  his  head. 
He  had  intense  feelings  on  that  question,  and  the 
grievous  wrong  of  slavery  aroused  his  kind  nature  to 
earnest  opposition  to  its  spread  and  extension  into  new 
territory.  He  would  consent  to  abide  its  existence  in 
the  State  where  the  Constitution  protected  the  system, 
but  from  his  early  manhood,  like  Henry  Clay,  he 
hoped  for  its  ultimate  extinction,  either  by  colonization 
in  Africa  or  by  paying  slave  owners  a  money  con- 
sideration for  their  slaves. 

Members  of  the   Illinois   State   bar,   judges  of  the 

27 


State  courts  and  of  the  United  States  courts  all  coin- 
cide in  the  opinion  that  Lincoln  was  a  very  able  and 
persuasive  lawyer  before  a  jury  when  he  was  on  the 
right  side  of  a  case,  and  a  very  poor  lawyer  when  he 
thought  his  client  was  in  the  wrong.  He  possessed 
in  a  very  large  measure  that  innate  sense  of  justice 
which  hindered  him  when  retained  on  what  he  consid- 
ered the  wrong  side  of  a  lawsuit  to  try  sincerely  to 
win  an  unjust  victory  for  his  client;  nor  would  he 
undertake  under  any  circumstance  to  make  black  look 
like  white.  He  has  been  known  to  refuse  his  service 
as  a  lawyer  when  satisfied  in  his  own  mind  that  his 
proposed   client  had   the   wrong  side  of  a   case. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  language  and  literary  style  were  pure- 
ly Anglo-Saxon.  He  was  not  a  classical  scholar,  but 
his  words  were  English,  pure  and  clear.  He  had  great 
power  of  condensation  and  used  no  unnecessary 
words.  The  common  people  understood  his  arguments 
and  generally  endorsed  his  conclusions. 

He  summed  up  the  doctrine  of  squatter  sovereignty 
advocated  by  Stephen  A.  Pouglas  in  the  Kansas-Ne- 
braska issue,  in  these  few  words,  that  "If  one  man 
choose  to  enslave  another,  no  third  man  shall  be  al- 
lowed to  object."  You  may  read  many  different  lives 
of  him,  but  you  will  find  little  said  of  him  as  a  lawyer. 
His  enduring  fame  belongs  to  him  as  an  anti-slavery 
debater,  a  pure-minded  and  far-sighted  statesman  and 
a  wise  ruler  of  men.  The  wonderful  contrast  between 
his  early  and  latter  years  best  illustrate  the  possibili- 
ties  of    American    citizenship.      The    poor   boy,   who 

28 


could  scarcely  reach  the  first  round  in  the  ladder,  as  a 
man  in  middle  life  stood  upon  the  topmost  round  and 
then  through  his  tragic  death  passed  up  to  the  realms 
of  eternity  as  one  of  God's  dutiful  children. 

I  experience  a  sincere  pleasure  when  I  recall  the 
fact  that  when  Mrs.  Hill,  of  New  Salem,  heard  any 
remark  about  Lincoln  and  Ann  Rutledge  she  would 
tell  of  her  recollections  of  a  "quilting  bee"  at  New 
Salem.  She  said  that  Lincoln  was  sitting  next  to  Ann, 
and  as  the  girl  was  industriously  using  her  needle, 
Abraham  was  softly  whispering  in  her  ear,  and  Mrs. 
Hill  was  wont  to  say  that  she  noticed  the  rose 
color  flushing  in  the  cheek  of  Ann,  that  her  heart 
throbbed  quicker,  and  that  Ann's  soul  thrilled  with  a 
joy  as  old  as  the  world  itself. 

Upon  the  same  subject  I  will  relate  what  Isaac  Cog- 
del  tells  of  his  interview  with  Lincoln  in  December 
after  his  election  as  President.  Cogdel  called  to  see 
him  and  Lincoln  requested  him  to  wait  until 
his  other  callers  from  a  distance  went  to 
their  hotels,  so  that  he  might  inquire  about 
his  old  friends  in  Menard  County.  The  visitors 
having  retired  they  both  drew  their  chairs  close  to  the 
fire.  There  in  the  quiet  twilight  Lincoln  inquired  after 
his  old  New  Salem  friends,  their  sons  and  daughters, 
when  and  whom  they  had  married,  and  how  they  had 
prospered.  When  he  had  told  Lincoln  all,  he  said, 
"Mr.  Lincoln,  I  would  like  to  ask  you  one  question." 
Lincoln  promptly  replied,  "Well,  Isaac,  if  it  is  a  fair 
question  I  will  answer  it."     "What  is  the  truth  about 

29 


you  and  Ann  Rutledge?"  "Isaac,  I  dearly  loved  the 
girl,  and  I  never  to  this  day  hear  the  name  Rutledge 
called  without  fond  memories  of  those  long  past  days." 

He  was  modest,  was  rather  retiring  than  pushing 
himself  forward  in  society.  He  never  sought  to  be 
conspicuous.  Even  after  his  great  debate  with  Doug- 
las and  after  he  had  been  named  for  President  by  a 
great  party  he  was  disinclined  to  notoriety.  When 
Mr.  Scripps,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  went  to  Spring- 
field  to  visit  Lincoln  and  gather  from  him  materials 
for  a  campaign  biography,  Lincoln  hesitated  whether 
to  aid  the  publication  or  not.  He  said  to  Mr.  Scripps, 
"There  is  no  romance,  nor  is  there  anything  heroic  in 
my  early  life ;  the  story  of  my  life  can  be  condensed 
into  one  line,  and  that  line  you  can  find  in  Gray's 
Elegy,  'The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor.' 
This  is  all  you  or  any  one  can  make  out  of  me  or 
my  early  life,"  What  pathos ! — recalling  the  early 
days  of  his  childhood — those  years  of  penury  and 
want ! 

It  has  been  always,  since  Mr.  Lincoln's  tragic  death, 
a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  recall  the  incidents,  and  to 
indulge  in  refreshing  my  recollection  of  particular 
events,  which  in  some  way  or  other  have  been  con- 
nected with  the  first  meeting  and  interview  I  had  with 
him  after  he  was  elected  President  in  November,  i860. 
That  meeting  was  to  me  personally  a  very  memorable 
incident.  This  meeting  and  the  interview  I  had  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  then  occurred  in  the  Governor's  chambers 
of  the  old  Capitol  Building  or  the  "State  House,"  as 
it  was  then  called. 

30 


It  is  needless  to  say  here  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  of 
the  citizens  of  Springfield,  and  the  people  of  Sanga- 
mon County  for  that  matter,  were  wild  with  delight 
and  unusually  enthusiastic  over  the  result  of  the  elec- 
tion in  November,  i860.  It  was  an  especially  interest- 
ing event  to  me,  and  I  have  always  regarded  it  as  one 
of  the  most  important  and  fascinating  incidents  of  my 
life.  I  had  been  nominated  by  the  Republican  party 
for  the  office  of  State  Senator  in  the  Twelfth  Sena- 
torial District  of  Illinois,  to  be  voted  for  at  that  elec- 
tion. That  Senatorial  District  in  which  I  was  a  can- 
didate for  Senator  then  consisted  of  the  Counties  of 
Sangamon  and  Morgan. 

My  opponent  for  State  Senator  at  that  election  was 
the  late  Honorable  Murray  McConnell,  of  Jackson- 
ville, Morgan  County.  He  had  been  nominated  and 
vigorously  supported  by  the  Douglas  "Popular  Sov- 
ereignty" wing,  or  faction,  of  the  Democratic  party. 
McConnell  was  a  distinguished  man,  an  accomplished 
lawyer,  a  shrewd  politician,  and  in  short  a  man  very 
hard  to  beat  for  an  important  political  office,  in  a 
Senatorial  District  which  had  been  for  many  years 
exuberant  in  its  Democratic  "Popular  Sovereignty" 
proclivities.  The  contest  between  Mr.  McConnell  and 
myself  for  State  Senator  at  that  election  was  not  only 
very  strenuous,  but  purely  partisan,  as  between  the 
Douglas  Democrats  and  the  Republicans. 

It  was  quite  spirited,  for  the  reason  that  the  vote 
of  the  Senator  for  that  District  might  determine  the 
re-election    of    Lyman    Trumbull    to   his    seat    in    the 

31 


United  States  Senate  from  Illinois.  Trumbull  had 
been  elected  United  States  Senator  on  the  8th  of 
February,  1855.  His  election  had  been  secured 
through  a  combination  of  the  "Old  Whigs,"  the 
"Know-Nothings,"  "Free  Soilers,"  "Abolitionists," 
and  an  unorganized  political  faction  then  known  as 
"Anti-Nebraska  Democrats." 

The  main  question  then  before  the  public,  and  the 
question  which  created  party  alliances,  was  desig- 
nated as  the  "Anti-Nebraska"  question.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  Illinois  then  met  at  the  State 
Capitol  in  the  month  of  December,  1854,  pursuant  to 
the  Constitution  of  1848.  The  great  issues  which  di- 
vided the  members  of  that  Legislature  into  political 
factions  grew  out  of  that  illogical,  futile  and  ridiculous 
doctrine  of  "Popular  Sovereignty." 

The  members  of  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  elected 
in  1854,  consisted  of  fourteen  straight  Democratic 
Senators  and  eleven  Anti-Nebraska  Senators ;  and  the 
lower  house  consisted  of  thirty-four  straight  Demo- 
crats and  forty-one  who  were  radically  opposed  to  the 
silly  propositions  of  "Popular  Sovereignty"  and  the 
pro-slavery  record  and  purposes  of  the  Democratic 
party. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  been,  but  without  his  knowledge, 
nominated  in  1854  by  the  opponents  of  the  "Popular 
Sovereignty"  advocates  for  a  seat  in  the  lower  house, 
in  the  session  which  was  to  meet  in  December,  1854, 
but  because  he  had  been  looked  upon  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Anti-Nebraska   men,   and  as   it   was 


generally  understood  that  he  was  to  be  a  candidate 
for  United  States  Senator  to  succeed  General  James  A. 
Shields,  Mr.  Lincoln,  after  having  been  assured  that  a 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature  of  Illinois 
were  opposed  to  and  would  vote  against  the  re-election 
of  General  Shields,  refused  to  receive  his  credentials 
as  a  member  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  General 
Assembly,  although  he  had  been  chosen  by  the  people 
for  that  office  by  a  majority  of  600. 

A  special  election  to  fill  the  vacancy  was  called  in 
the  Springfield  District  after  Lincoln  had  declined.  At 
that  special  election  Mr.  Jonathan  McDaniel,  an  old 
resident  of  the  eastern  part  of  Sangamon  County,  an 
unchangeable  and  "dyed-in-the-wool"  Democrat,  was 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  refusal  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  serve.  It  was  said  pleasantly  of  Mr. 
McDaniel,  who  was  unfamiliar  with  and  inexperienced 
in  legislative  proceedings,  that  the  only  rule  he  had 
for  determining  how  to  cast  his  vote  as  a  member  of 
the  Legislature  was  to  keep  track  of  the  way  the 
Honorable  Stephen  T.  Logan  cast  his  vote,  and  when 
Logan,  whose  name  preceded  that  of  McDaniel  on 
the  roil  call  of  the  house,  voted  on  any  question  which 
came  before  the  Legislature,  to  cast  his  vote  in  op- 
position to  the  vote  of  Stephen  T.  Logan. 

Many  of  the  members  of  the  lower  house  of  that 
General  Assembly  afterwards  became,  or  were  then, 
important  and  active  factors  in  the  political 
affairs  of  Illinois.  Among  the  number  of  the  lower 
house  were  James  A.  Allen,  who  was  afterwards  de- 

33 


feated  by  Richard  Yates  for  Governor  of  Illinois  in 
i860;  William  R.  Morrison,  who  was  for  a  number 
of  years  afterward  a  member  of  Congress  from  Illi- 
nois, and  subsequently  a  member  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  also;  George  T.  Allen,  Henry 
S.  Parker,  Joseph  Gillespie,  Chauncey  L.  Higbee, 
who  was  afterwards  for  many  years  one  of  our  Cir- 
cuit Judges,  Lewis  H.  Waters,  Amos  C.  Babcock, 
Henry  C.  Johns,  Gen.  Thomas  J.  Henderson,  after- 
wards for  many  years  a  member  of  Congress  from 
the  Princeton  District  of  this  State,  and  now  one  of 
the  National  Trustees  of  the  Soldier's  Home,  Robert 
Boal,  G.  D.  A.  Parks  of  Will  County,  the  famous 
Owen  Lovejoy,  Miles  S.  Henry,  Thomas  J.  Turner 
and  L.  W.  Lawrence.  Most  of  these  men  subsequently 
attained  great  distinction  in  public  affairs,  and  most 
of  them  rendered  conspicuous  and  distinguished  serv- 
ices on  the  question  of  human  liberty,  and  on  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  public  welfare  in  their  day  and 
generation. 

When  the  question  of  the  election  of  a  United 
States  Senator  came  before  the  General  Assembly  in 
1854,  the  members  of  that  body  so  cast  their  votes 
on  joint  ballot,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  received  the  votes 
of  45 ;  Gen  Shields  received  the  votes  of  41 ;  Lyman 
Trumbull  received  five  votes ;  Gustave  Koerner  re- 
ceived two  votes;  and  William  B.  Ogden,  Joel  A.  Mat- 
teson,  William  Kellogg,  Cyrus  Edwards,  Orlando  B. 
Ficklin  and  William  A.  Denning  each  received  one 
vote.     Every  member  elected  to  the  General  Assem- 

34 


bly  for  that  year  was  present  and  voted  on  the  elec- 
tion of  United  States  Senator,  except  Randolph 
Heath,  a  Democrat  from  Crawford  County — at  least 
there  is  no  record  of  Mr.  Heath  having  cast  any  vote 
for  any  candidate  on  the  question  of  the  election  of 
a  United  States  Senator.  The  five  members  who 
had  agreed  to  support  Lyman  Trumbull  in  any  emer- 
gency were  John  M.  Palmer,  Burton  C.  Cook  and 
Norman  B.  Judd,  members  of  the  Senate ;  and  George 
T.  Allen  and  Henry  S.  Baker,  of  Madison  County, 
who  were  members  of  the  lower  house.  Ten  ballots 
were  cast  in  the  joint  convention  of  that  General  As- 
sembly, and  on  the  tenth  ballot  Lyman  Trumbull  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  to  succeed  Gen. 
James  A.  Shields. 

If  the  five  members  who  so  heroically  and  valiantly 
supported  Trumbull  could  have  been  persuaded  to  cast 
their  votes  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  it  is  certain  that  Lincoln 
would  have  been  elected  Senator,  because  it  is  now  a 
matter  of  history  that  Judge  Joseph  Gillespie,  who 
had  cast  his  vote  for  Cyrus  Edwards  and  Amos  C. 
Babcock,  who  had  cast  his  vote  for  Mr.  Kellogg, 
would  have  changed  their  attitude  and  voted  for  Mr. 
Lincoln,  which  would  have  secured  his  election. 

I  crave  your  pardon  for  digressing  here  a  moment, 
to  pay  a  well  deserved  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
John  M.  Palmer,  Norman  B.  Judd  and  Burton  C. 
Cook,  who  were  State  Senators  in  that  Assembly,  re- 
spectively, from  Macoupin,  Cook  and  LaSalle  Coun- 
ties,  and   to   George   T.   Allen  and   Henry   S.   Baker 

35 


of  Madison  County,  who  were  members  of  the  lower 
house.  These  patriotic  citizens  and  lovable  men  have 
long  since  gone  on  that  ''long  journey  whence  no 
traveler  returns."  They  were  great  and  good  men, 
serviceable  to  the  people  of  their  day  and  generation. 
They  were  all  faithful,  efficient  and  heroic ;  they  were 
known  to  belong  to  that  unselfish  class  of  men  who 
"loved  their  neighbors  as  themselves"  and  who  in 
the  career  of  their  useful  lives  were  stars  of  liberty 
and  beacons  of  freedom.  These  were  the  five  valiant 
and  hopeful  men,  who  stood  so  fearlessly,  loyally 
and  unflinchingly  for  the  election  of  Lyman  Trumbull 
to  the  United  States  Senate  in  the  month  of  Febru- 
ary, 1855.  The  loyalty  of  these  distinguished  men  to 
their  chosen  candidate  for  Senator,  who  together  with 
the  political  sagacity,  generous  impulses,  noble  heart, 
and  unselfish  motives  of  Abraham  Lincoln  made  it 
practicable  to  elect  Lyman  Trumbull  Senator.  Trum- 
bull subsequently  served  faithfully  and  courageously 
in  that  highest  and  most  powerful  legislative  body  in 
the  world  for  the  period  of  eighteen  eventful  years. 
It  is  a  sufficient  honor  to  Lyman  Trumbull  to  say  that 
upon  the  suggestion  of  Lincoln  he  drafted,  introduced 
and  had  carried  through  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  the  13th  Amendment  to  the  Constitution.  That 
Amendment  established  in  due  form  that  fundamental 
proposition  which  is  the  basis  of  our  national  govern- 
ment and  political  institutions,  namely,  that  "all  men 
are  created  equal  and  have  certain  inalienable  rights, 
among  which  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  hap- 
piness." 


36 


It  may  not  now  impress  us  as  we  press  forward  in 
the  light  of  liberty,  and  are  beckoned  onward  by  the 
winsome  smile  of  freedom  at  the  close  of  the  bril- 
liant era  of  the  19th  Century,  that  these  past  inci- 
dents are  of  any  serious  consequence ;  but  they  are 
all  blended  with  the  life  and  career  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, whose  great  courage,  great  heart  and  far-sighted 
wisdom    gave  the  year  of  jubilee  to  a  race. 

It  is  an  axiom  that  the  fall  of  empires  and  the  fate 
of  nations  frequently  hang  on  the  ''hazard  of  a  die," 
and  it  is  equally  true  that  "little  drops  of  water  and 
little  grains  of  sand  make  the  mighty  ocean  and  the 
beauteous  land."  I  have  always  been  impressed  with 
the  conviction  that  Lincoln's  attitude  and  the  political 
wisdom  displayed  by  him  in  the  events  which  led  up 
to  the  election  in  1855  of  Lyman  Trumbull  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  was  one  of  those  incidents  which 
materially  aided  in  nominating  Lincoln  by  the  Re- 
publican Party,  and  to  his  election  by  the  American 
People  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  His 
illustrious  career  and  his  exalted  ideas  of  the  duties 
and  obligations  of  that  high  place  are  matters  of  his- 
tory. But  I  urge  upon  you,  my  veteran  friends,  to 
remember  that  great  men  belong  to  the  infinite.  They 
are  at  once  brothers  of  the  mountains  and  the  seas. 
They  rise  up  among  the  moiling  multitude  like  the 
tall  cedars  of  Lebanon,  and  cast  their  hopeful  shadows 
over  all  that  is  holy,  through  the  eons  of  eternity. 
The  grandeur  of  manhood  was  never  surpassed  by 
that  which  enveloped  the  immortal  soul  of  Abraham 

37 


Lincoln.  The  soul  of  man  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  in 
His  keeping,  and  we  should  not  hesitate  to  believe, 
that  when  Lincoln,  in  his  second  inaugural  address, 
uttered  those  undying  words:  "With  malice  toward 
none,  with  charity  for  all,"  the  divine  precept  which 
those  words  imply  were  imparted  to  him  by  the  lov- 
ing Father  of  us  all. 

The  political  campaign  of  1858  was  really  a  con- 
test between  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
las as  to  whether  Douglas  should  be  re-elected  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  or  whether  Lincoln 
should  be  elected  by  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  to  suc- 
ceed him.  This  political  contest  was  not  only  one  in 
which  the  people  of  Illinois  were  seriously  and  earn- 
estly interested,  but  was  a  question  which  made  the 
joint  debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas  of  na- 
tional interest,  and  commanded  most  serious  atten- 
tion among  the  people  and  all  political  parties  in  the 
L^nited  States.  It  was  to  me,  personally,  in  1858,  a 
great  pleasure  to  be  then  on  friendly  terms  and  in 
neighborly  and  political  intercourse  with  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. He  then  was  not  only  friendly  as  a  neighbor, 
but  indicated  to  me  frequently  his  confidence  in  my 
capabilities  to  accomplish  certain  things  in  behalf  of 
the  Republican  party  at  that  time.  I  knew  the  pur- 
pose he  had  in  mind  to  deliver  that  famous  speech 
which  he  did  deliver  before  the  Republican  State  Con- 
vention which  met  in  Springfield  in  June,  1858.  I 
knew  from  frequent  conversations  with  Lincoln  that  the 
subject  matter  of  that  speech  was  of  deep  and  abiding 

38 


interest  with  him.  I  knew  that  the  principles  which  he 
proposed  to  announce  in  that  speech  caused  him  great 
anxiety,  an  anxiety  which  led  him  to  call  a  caucus  of 
his  personal  and  political  friends  to  consider  with 
him  and  advise  with  him  as  to  the  propriety  and  wis- 
dom of  announcing  such  principles  as  he  proposed  to 
announce  in  his  speech  at  that  time.  At  this  caucus 
of  Lincoln's  friends  the  subject  of  his  making  such  a 
speech  announcing  such  principles  was  seriously,  hon- 
estly and  fully  discussed,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  some- 
what surprised  that  only  one  of  the  friends  whom  he 
had  called  about  him,  agreed  with  him  in  the  political 
propriety  and  wisdom  of  making  such  declarations  as 
he  proposed  to  make  in  that  speech.  That  one  friend 
was  his  law  partner,  William  H.  Herndon.  All  the 
other  gentlemen  present  at  the  caucus  seemed  fully  to 
agree  with  Lincoln  in  advocating  privately  the  prin- 
ciples which  Lincoln  proposed  to  announce,  but  they 
all,  except  Herndon,  counseled  Lincoln  against  the 
policy  of  making  such  a  speech  announcing  such  prin- 
ciples at  that  particular  time,  because  they  believed 
that  if  he  assumed  and  proclaimed  such  a  position  it 
would  put  a  dangerous  weapon  in  the  hands  of  Doug- 
las with  which  he  might  defeat  Lincoln  in  the  race 
for  United  States  Senator.  Lincoln  listened  to  all 
such  objections  patiently  and  modestly,  but  when  all 
objections  had  been  made  and  considered  Mr.  Lin- 
coln rose  and  said  : 

"My  dear  friends:     The  time  has  come  when  these 
sentiments    should   be    uttered ;    and    if    it    is   decreed 


39 


that  I  shall  go  down  because  of  this  speech,  then  let 
me  go  down  linked  to  the  truth — let  me  die  in  the 
advocacy  of  what  is  just  and  right. 

"In  taking  this  position  I  do  not  suspect  that  any 
one  of  you  disagree  with  me  as  to  the  doctrine  which 
I  will  announce  in  that  speech ;  for  I  am  sure  you 
would  all  like  to  see  me  defeat  Douglas.  It  may  be 
inexpedient  for  me  to  announce  such  principles  at 
this  time,  but  I  have  given  the  subject  matter  the 
most  patient,  honest  and  intelligent  thought  that  I 
am  able  to  command,  because  I  have  felt  at  times, 
and  now  feel,  that  we  are  standing  on  the  advanced 
line  of  a  political  campaign  which  in  its  results  will 
be  of  more  importance  than  any  political  event  that 
will  occur  during  the  19th  century.  I  regret  that 
my  friend  Herndon  is  the  only  man  among  you  who 
coincides  with  my  views  and  purposes  in  the  pro- 
priety of  making  such  a  speech  to  the  public  as  I 
have  indicated  to  you ;  but  I  have  determined  in  my 
own  mind  to  make  this  speech,  and  in  arriving  at  this 
determination  I  cheerfully  admit  to  you  that  I  am 
moved  to  this  purpose  by  the  noble  sentiments  ex- 
pressed in  those  beautiful  lines  of  William  Cullen 
Bryant  in  his  poem  on  "The  Battlefield,"  where  he 
says — 

A  friendless  warfare !     lingering  long 

Through  weary  day  and  weary  year ; 

A  wild  and  many  weaponed  throng 

Hang  on  thy  front,  and  flank  and  rear. 

40 


Yet  nerve  thy  spirit  to  the  proof, 

And  blench  not  at  thy  chosen  lot ; 

The  timid  good  may  stand  aloof, 

The  sage  may  frown — yet  faint  thou  not. 

Nor  heed  the  shaft  too  surely  cast, 

The   foul  and  hissing  bolt  of  scorn ; 

For  with  thy  side  shall  dwell,  at  last 
The  victory  of  endurance  born. 

Truth,  crushed  to  earth,  shall  rise  again ; 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers ; 
But  error  wounded,  writhes  in  pain, 

And  dies  among  his   worshippers. 

Yea,  though  thou  lie  upon  the  dust 

When  they  who  helped  thee  flee  in  fear, 

Die  full  of  hope  and  manly  trust 

Like  those  who  fell  in  battle  here. 

Another  hand  thy  sword  shall  wield, 
Another  hand   thy  standard   wave 

Till  from  the  trumpet's  mouth  is  pealed 
The  blast  of  triumph  o'er  thy  grave. 

After  reciting  these  significant  lines,  Mr.  Lincoln 
continued : 

"I  am  aware  that  many  of  our  friends,  and  all  of 
our  political  enemies,  will  say  that,  like  Scipio,  I  am 
'carrying  the  war  into  Africa ;'  but  that  is  an  inci- 
dent of  politics  which  none  of  us  can  help,  but  it  is 
an  incident  which  in  the  long  run  will  be  forgotten 
and  ignored. 

"We  all  believe  that  every  human  being,  whatever 

41 


may  be  his  color,  is  born  free,  and  that  every  human 
soul  has  an  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.  The  Apostle  Paul  said  that 
The  just  shall  live  by  faith.'  This  doctrine,  laid 
down  by  St.  Paul,  was  taken  up  by  the  greatest  re- 
former of  the  Christian  era,  Martin  Luther,  and  was 
adhered  to  with  a  vigor  and  fidelity  never  surpassed, 
until  it  won  a  supreme  victory,  the  benefits  and  ad- 
vantages of  which  we  are  enjoying  today. 

"I  will  lay  down  these  propositions  in  the  speech 
I  propose  to  make  and  risk  the  chance  of  winning  a 
seat  in  the  United  States  Senate  because  I  believe  the 
propositions  are  true,  and  that  ultimately  we  shall 
live  to  see,  as  Bryant  says  'The  victory  of  endur- 
ance born.' " 

This  was  the  closing  incident  of  the  caucus  of  Lin- 
coln's friends  to  consider  whether  or  not  he  should 
make  his  proposed  speech.  It  was  probably  that 
speech  which  enabled  Douglas  to  win  the  senator- 
ship,  but  it  was  one  of  the  great  things  that  Lincoln 
did  which  placed  him  in  the  Valhalla  of  the  Immor- 
tals. That  speech  was  one  of  the  courageous  things 
which  Lincoln  did,  and  which  warrants  us  in  saying — 

"  Thou  art  freedom's  now,  and  fame's; 
One  of  the  few  immortal  names,  that  were  not  born  to  die." 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  Gen.  James  A. 
Shields  had  become  a  resident  of  California,  and  while 
he  had  been  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Demo- 
cratic   Party,    and    had    been    elected    to    the    United 
States    Senate    from     both     the     States     of     Illinois 

42 


and  Minnesota,  he  was  quite  loyal  to  the  Union,  but 
was  always  strongly  influenced  by  the  position  which 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  took  in  politics.  Mr. 
Shields  had  read  the  speech  made  by  Mr.  Douglas  to 
the  joint  session  of  the  Legislature  in  Springfield  in 
1861, — probably  the  most  effective  speech  ever  made 
by  Douglas,  in  which  with  great  eloquence  and 
unanswerable  logic  he  appealed  to  the  people  of  his 
country  to  be  loyal  to  the  Union.  In  that  great  speech 
Mr.  Douglas  said,  "That  the  first  duty  of  the  Ameri- 
can citizen  was  obedience  to  the  constitution  and  the 
laws,  and  that  in  the  contest  then  raised  by  the  South- 
ern people  there  could  be  in  this  country  but  two  par- 
ties— patriots  and  traitors.  That  it  is  a  duty  we  owe 
to  ourselves,  our  children  and  our  God,  to  protect  this 
Government  and  its  flag  from  any  and  every  assail- 
ant." This  was  the  last  and  greatest  speech  ever 
made  by  Senator  Douglas  and  was  probably  worth 
more  to  the  cause  of  the  Union  than  any  speech  that 
could  have  been  made  by  any  other  man  then  living. 
Gen.  Shields,  after  he  had  read  that  speech  of  Sena- 
tor Douglas,  signified  with  great  earnestness  his  in- 
tention of  joining  the  Union  Army  as  a  soldier,  and 
to  help  put  down  the  Rebellion.  He  was  recom- 
mended to  Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  Hon.  Jas.  A.  Mac- 
Dougall,  who  had  previously  been  Attorney  General 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  was  then  (1861)  in  the 
United  States  Senate  from  California,  and  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  intimated  his  intention  to  appoint  Gen.  Shields 
a  Brigadier  General  of  Volunteers  in  the  Union  Army, 

43 


Senator  MacDougall  said,  "I  am  glad  you  are  will- 
ing to  do  this  favor  for  our  mutual  friend  Shields,  be- 
cause I  think  it  will  convince  Shields  that  you  did 
not  intend  to  kill  him  in  the  duel  he  challenged  you 
to  fight  with  him  years  ago,  but  I  do  not  think  it  will 
convert  Shields  or  persuade  him  to  be  a  Republican." 
To  MacDougall's  pleasant  remarks,  Mr.  Lincoln  re- 
plied, "It  makes  no  difference  to  me  what  party  Gen. 
Shields  may  belong  to.  My  only  object  is  to  save 
the  Union,  and  it  has  frequently  occurred  to  me  that 
I  would  like  to  give  Shields  a  chance  to  have  his  fight 
out  with  some  other  man  than  me.  What  you  say 
about  Gen.  Shields  reminds  me  of  a  story."  "What 
story  is  that,  Mr.  President?"  said  MacDougall,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  replied  that  "We  once  had  in  Spring- 
field a  colored  family,  the  head  of  which  was  what  is 
known  as  a  'no  account  nigger.'  He  would  get  drunk, 
whip  his  wife,  and  scold  his  children,  but  he  would 
not  work  or  take  proper  care  of  his  family.  This 
colored  family  belonged  to  the  church,  and  the  wife 
becoming  impatient  with  her  husband's  conduct,  went 
and  consulted  the  pastor  of  the  church  to  which 
they  belonged,  as  to  what  she  should  do  with  her 
worthless  husband  ;  and  after  retailing  to  the  pastor 
the  bad  conduct  of  her  husband  and  his  neglect  of  his 
duties  to  his  family,  the  pastor  said  to  her,  'Be  pa- 
tient with  your  husband  and  set  him  a  good  example, 
you  will  pour  coals  of  fire  on  his  head  in  that  way' ; 
to  which  advice  of  the  pastor,  the  wife  replied :  'That 
would  do  no  good ;  I  have  already  poured  bilin'  water 

44 


on  him,  and  it  don't  scarcely  take  the  dander  out  of 
his  hair.'  But  I  think  I  will  appoint  Shields  Brigadier 
General,  and  let  him  have  his  fight  out  with  the  men 
who  once  pretended  to  be  his  political  friends." 

I  again  ask  you  to  indulge  me  briefly.  I  began  to 
relate  to  you  the  incidents  of  my  first  meeting  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  after  his  election  as  President.  This 
meeting  occurred,  as  I  have  said,  the  day  subsequent 
to  the  election  in  November,  i860.  I  had  on  that  day 
received  a  telegram  from  Jacksonville,  informing  me 
that  I  had  carried  Morgan  County  for  State  Senator 
against  Murray  McConnell  by  eight  votes,  and  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  glad  to  know 
that  fact;  so  I  took  the  telegram  and  handed  it  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  while  he  was  holding  an  informal  recep- 
tion to  the  general  public  in  the  old  ''State  House." 
He  read  it  carefully  and  handed  it  back  to  me  with  a 
pleasant  smile,  and  said  encouragingly,  "Why,  that 
elects  you,  Bill."  Pleasant  and  appropriate  greetings 
were  exchanged  at  that  time  between  us,  and  I  recol- 
lect that  Mr.  Lincoln  said  to  me,  jocularly,  "You 
seem  to  succeed  as  well  in  politics  as  you  have  suc- 
ceeded in  pills."  "If  I  were  as  lucky  as  you  are  in 
politics,  and  strong  enough  to  beat  as  good  a  man  as 
Murray  McConnell  in  a  Democratic  District  for  State 
Senator,  I  would  change  my  sign  so  that  it  would 
read  'Dr.  William  Jayne,  Purveyor  of  Pills  and  Poli- 
tics. I  guarantee  the  cure  of  Democratic  Headaches 
and  all  the  ailments  of  Popular  Sovereignty  Cranks. 
No  cure,  no  pay !'  " 

45 


What  would  have  been  the  history  of  reconstruction 
had  Mr.  Lincoln  survived  to  serve  through  his  second 
term  we  cannot  tell ;  but  it  has  often  occurred  to  me 
that  the  country,  and  especially  the  Republican  party, 
would  have  escaped  much  of  the  humiliation  and  dis- 
grace heaped  upon  it  by  the  condition  and  political 
management  of  the  Northern  carpet-baggers,  who 
through  the  support  of  the  ignorant  blacks  of  the 
South  dominated  the  control  of  the  political 
offices,  State  and  Federal,  of  many  of  the  Southern 
States.  The  kind  and  firm  hand  of  Lincoln  would 
never  have  permitted  this  blot  of  carpet-baggism  upon 
the  fair  name  of  our  reconstruction  of  the  States.  In 
the  heart  of  that  noblest  of  men  there  was  no  hatred 
of  any  man  or  section  of  his  country ;  there  dwelt 
sweet  peace  and  sublime  humanity.  The  restoration 
of  the  Union  after  April  9,  1865,  was  the  first  object 
for  which  he  lived.  Let  us  believe  reverently  that 
Lincoln  through  all  coming  time  will  stand  side  by 
side  with  George  Washington  among  the  illustrious 
men  of  the  world. 

I  witnessed  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1861.  The  first  three  days  of  March 
were  quite  warm.  Sunday,  March  3d,  was  a  delightful 
summer  day.  The  soft,  mild  breezes  from  the  South 
which  came  up  to  Washington  city  to  mark  the  quiet 
Sabbath  of  the  last  day  of  James  Buchanan  in  the 
White  House,  and  the  loosening  of  Buchanan's  hold 
on  the  destinies  of  a  national  government  was  spring- 
like, and  filled  with  fragrance  from  the  land  of  the 
orange  and  the  magnolia. 

46 


After  a  crimson  sunset  the  wind  seemed  to  rise  and 
came  in  fitful  gusts,  quick  and  sharp  as  the  evening 
advanced.  During  the  evening  of  Sunday  the  wind 
shifted  to  the  west,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  4th 
the  sky  was  overcast  with  clouds  and  the  wind  came 
from  the  north.  By  ten  o'clock  the  temperature  had 
changed  thirty  degrees,  but  notwithstanding  the 
frosty,  biting  air,  Pennsylvania  avenue  was  crowded 
with  a  mass  of  moving  humanity.  That  cold,  bleak 
day  fitly  illustrated  the  stormy  and  tempestuous  path 
which  he  was  entering  upon.  That  rugged  and  peril- 
ous road  he  trod  cautiously,  warily.  Yet  with  calm- 
ness and  fortitude,  determined  above  everything  else 
to  preserve  the  Union  of  the  States.  The  dark  and 
dangerous  days  of  storm  and  battle  were  foreshad- 
owed by  the  forbidding  weather  of  that  inauguration 
day — the  very  air  was  portentous.  The  rising  mur- 
murs of  discontent  came  on  every  breeze  wafted  from 
Virginia,  Georgia,  the  Carolinas  and  all  the  Southern 
States.  These  murmurings  and  threatenings  were  but 
the  prelude  to  the  crimson  tempest  and  blood  through 
which  Lincoln  passed  in  triumph.  But  at  what  a  cost 
of  men  and  treasure !  The  liberty  loving  people  from 
New  England,  from  the  great  Central  States,  from 
the  far  West,  from  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi,  had  come  one  hundred  thousand  strong, 
not  to  witness  the  achievements  of  the  arts  of  peace, 
but  to  be  present  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  which 
would  make  the  Republic  of  Washington  foremost  in 
the  nations  of  the  earth.     In  the  presence  of  the  as- 

47 


sembled  citizens,  Abraham  Lincoln,  with  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  who  held  Lincoln's  hat,  and  Edward  D. 
Baker  on  either  side,  with  bare  head  and  hand  up- 
lifted, was  sworn  to  support,  maintain  and  defend  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  As  long  as  liberty 
remains,  as  long  as  Christianity  and  civilization  are 
the  legacy  of  the  race,  will  history  record  how  faith- 
fully that  sacred  vow  was  fulfilled ! 

The  closing  scene  of  his  life  was  too  cruel  to  dwell 
upon.  With  the  surrender  of  Lee  at  Appomattox, 
just  as  benign  peace  smiled  upon  a  reunited  country, 
and  when  alluring  prospects  of  prosperity,  tranquilty 
and  contentment  were  spread  out  before  his  delighted 
vision,  and  when  the  evening  of  his  life  promised  to 
be  blessed  with  the  love  and  reverence  of  a  grateful 
people — darkness  and  death  came.  In  an  instant  his 
brain  was  paralyzed  by  a  missile  conceived  in  the 
malice  and  hurled  by  the  fury  and  hatred  of  a  frenzied 
assassin. 

Unconsciously  he  passed  from  life  to  death ; 
thus  fulfilling  that  fancy,  vision  or  foreboding,  which 
came  to  him  years  before.  In  the  deepening  twilight, 
when  reclining  for  repose  on  his  couch  in  his  own 
home,  while  he  was  musing  in  silence  and  sadness  on 
the  past,  present  and  future,  he  beheld  on  the  mirror 
hanging  in  his  room  two  contrasting  views  of  his  own 
features,  one  in  the  vigor  of  health,  and  one  wearing 
the  paleness  of  death.  This  vision  disturbed  him — 
he  spoke  to  his  wife  about  it,  and  seemed  to  regard  it 
as   an   ill-omen    which   portended    and    foreshadowed 

48 


misfortune  to  him.  Probably  in  a  brief  time  this 
depressing  incident  vanished  from  his  mind. 

Strange  and  mysterious  are  the  ways  of  Providence. 
We  can  but  submit  to  the  supreme  will  of  that  in- 
finite Intelligence  which  made  and  governs  the  uni- 
verse. 

When  Illinois  called  for  her  dead,  silently  the  re- 
mains of  Lincoln  were  borne  through  cities  and  states 
amid  signs  and  tokens  which  were  emblems  of  woe. 
His  pallid  face,  worn  with  lines  of  care  and  anxiety, 
were  looked  upon  by  unnumbered  souls.  His  old 
home  was  at  last  reached.  The  casket  which  con- 
tained all  that  was  mortal  of  Lincoln  was  there  placed 
in  the  great  hall  of  the  capitol  which  had  been  so 
often  the  silent  witness  of  his  intellectual  combats 
and  triumphs.  Men,  women  and  children  came  from 
everywhere  to  pay  the  tributes  of  honor  to  their  be- 
loved President.  The  old  and  the  young  bowed  in 
great  sorrow  and  anguish  and  pressed  around  the 
casket  and  gazed  for  the  last  time  upon  the  well 
marked  and  familiar  features  of  that  kind  face.  That 
heart  which  had  always  throbbed  "in  charity  for  all, 
and  malice  toward  none"  was  now  stilled  in  death. 
Rcqniescat  in  pace. 

There  is  little  doubt  as  to  the  place  which  will  be 
assigned  to  the  War  President  in  the  final  judgment 
of  mankind.  Let  us  believe — nor  should  this  belief 
be  in  vain — that  the  pitiless  and  impartial  historian, 
when  he  has  measured,  weighed  and  analyzed  the 
great  historic  characters  of  nations,  will   deliberately 

49 


pronounce  that  among  the  marked  rulers  among  men 
he  was  not  surpassed  by  any  man  of  any  age.  All 
that  is  physical  and  mortal  now  repose  peacefully  in 
the  quiet  of  Oak  Ridge,  in  that  crypt  of  fame,  be- 
neath that  stately  monument  of  granite  erected  by  a 
grateful  people ;  but  the  divine  existence,  the  gra- 
cious spirit  of  that  God-inspired  man  are  not  there. 
The  thought,  the  intellect  and  spirit  of  that  great  heart 
and  soul  will  survive  in  the  unknown  beyond,  and  will 
live  on  and  endure  while  the  years  of  eternity  roll. 

"'And  so  they  buried  Lincoln?     Strange  and  vain! 
Has  any  creature  thought  of  Lincoln  hid 
In  any  vault,  'neath  any  coffin  lid, 
In  all  the  years  since  that  wild  Spring  of  pain? 
'Tis  false !     He  never  in  the  grave  hath  lain. 
You  could  not  bury  him  although  you  slid 
Upon  his  clay  the  Cheop's  pyramid, 
Or  heaped  it  with  the  Rocky  Mountain  Chain. 
They   slew  themselves ;  they  but   set  Lincoln   free. 
In  all,  the  life  of  his  great  heart  beats  as  strong, 
Shall  beat  while  pulses  throb  to  chivalry 
And  burn  with  hate  of  tyranny  and  wrong. 
Whoever  will  may  find  him,  anywhere 
Save  in  the  tomb,  not  there — he  is  not  there !" 

In  the  world's  Pantheon  of  heroes  and  martyrs  there 
will  be  graven  by  the  hand  of  Truth  the  name 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

Lincoln   was  a  man   of   peace;  he  never  sought  a 

50 


controversy  or  quarrel,  and  he  never  retreated  under 
fire. 

His  religious  views  and  opinions  have  been  discussed 
again  and  again.  I  believe  that  Air.  Lincoln  was  by 
nature  a  deeply  religious  man.  But  I  have  no  evidence 
that  he  ever  accepted  the  formulated  creed  of  any 
sect  or  denomination.  I  know  that  all  churches  had 
his  profound  respect  and  support. 

Was  Abraham  Lincoln  a  religious  man?  Upon 
this  question  philosophers  may  hesitate,  and  quibbling 
infidels  may  doubt,  but  we  must  believe  from  the 
deeds  done  by,  and  the  sentiments  unhesitatingly  and 
unmistakably  uttered  by  this  honest  and  upright  man, 
that  these  are  the  best,  controlling,  and  undisputable 
testimony  of  the  religious  nature  and  life,  and  of  his 
clearly  pronounced  religious  hopes,  and  of  his  en- 
during and  abundant  religious  faith  in  the  relations 
between  God  and  his  immortal  soul. 

It  is  now  beyond  the  realm  of  controversy  that 
Lincoln  loved,  honored  and  revered  Almighty  God. 

The  Christian  religion  is  a  feeling  of  reverence 
towards  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  world,  together 
with  all  those  acts  of  worship  and  service  to  which 
that  feeling  leads.  The  secure  foundation,  the  very 
root  of  this  divine  sentiment  exists  in  the  nature  of 
man,  and  in  the  circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed. 
It  manifests  itself  abundantly  even  where  the  one 
supreme  God  of  the  Christian  is  unknown.  Man, 
being  naturally  religious,  if  he  is  ignorant  of  the  true 
God,  he  must  and  will  create  false  ones  for  himself. 


He  is  surrounded  by  dangers  and  difficulties ;  he  sees 
the  almighty  powers  of  nature  at  work  everywhere 
and  in  all  things.  These  powers  are  pregnant  to  him 
with  hope  and  fear.  They  are  inscrutable  in  their 
workings,  and  beyond  his  comprehension  and  con- 
trol. There  arises  therefore  the  feeling  of  dependence 
upon  something  more  powerful  and  more  wise  than 
himself.  This  feeling  is  the  very  germ  and  essence 
of  religion. 

It  was  this  feeling  which  prompted  Lincoln  to  join 
reverently  in  the  religious  services  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Springfield  when  the  congregation 
sang  ''Jesus,  Lover  of  My  Soul,  Let  Me  to  Thy 
Bosom  Fly."  It  was  this  inexpressible  power  of  re- 
ligious feeling,  dwelling  in  Lincoln's  heart,  which 
moved  him  to  request  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smith,  pastor  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Chuch  at  Springfield,  to  have 
sung,  at  the  funeral  services  which  were  held  at  the 
burial  of  his  little  son  Thomas,  who  died  at  Spring- 
field and  to  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  so  pathetically  re- 
ferred in  the  last  touching  farewell  address  he  made 
to  his  old  neighbors  and  friends  when  he  left  his  home 
for  Washington  to  be  inaugurated  President  of  the 
United  States,  those  beautiful  and  expressive  lines, 
"My  faith  looks  up  to  Thee,  Thou  Lamb  of  Calvary, 
Saviour  Divine." 

It  was  this  feeling,  this  sense  of  relying  upon  the 
Creator  of  the  universe  which  prompted  him  to  say 
on  that  occasion  to  Dr.  Smith  that  the  most  impres- 


52 


sive   and   comforting  words   he  ever   heard   sung  are 
these : 


"W 


While  life's  dark  maze  I  tread, 
And  griefs  around  me  spread, 

Be   Thou  my  guide ; 
Bid   darkness   turn  to   day, 
Wipe  sorrow's  tears  away, 
Nor  let  me  ever  stray 

From  Thee  aside." 

It  was  this  sacred  impulse  which  dominated  his 
good  heart  and  inspired  him  to  exclaim  in  the  closing 
paragraph  (which  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  hear 
him  utter)  of  his  first  Inaugural  Address  when  he 
said  "We  are  not  enemies  but  friends,  we  must  not 
be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it 
must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic 
cords  of  memory  stretching  from  every  battle-field 
and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth- 
stone all  over  this  broad  land  will  yet  swell  the  chorus 
of  the  Union  when  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be, 
by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

When  Lincoln  wrote  the  affectionate  letter  of 
condolence  to  that  good  mother  whose  five  sons  had 
"died  gloriously  on  the  field  of  battle,"  and  said  to 
her,  "I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any  words 
of  mine  which  should  attempt  to  beguile  you  from  the 
grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I  cannot  re- 
frain from  tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may 

53 


be  found  in  the  thanks  of  the  Republic  they  died  to 
save.  I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage 
the  anguish  of  your  bereavement  and  leave  you  only 
the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved  and  lost,  and  the 
solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have  laid  so  costly 
a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  Freedom"  was  he  not 
then — Nov.  21st,  1864, — actuated  by  a  religious  senti- 
ment "pure  and  undefiled"?  If  the  Christian  hope 
and  faith,  did  not  then  permeate  his  loving  and  ten- 
der heart,  why  should  he  write  to  that  bereaved 
mother,  "I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  as- 
suage your  bereavement"? 

May  we  not,  now,  religiously  and  faithfully  be- 
lieve, that  when  the  martyred  President  wrote  those 
inspired  words  to  that  stricken  mother  he  sincerely 
felt  as  Job  did  when  he  said,  "I  would  speak  to  the 
Almighty,"  and  exclaimed,  "Hear  now  my  reasoning, 
and  hearken  unto  the  pleadings  of  my  lips."  *  *  * 
"My  stroke  is  heavier  than  my  groaning."  "Oh  that 
I  knew  where  I  could  find  Him,  that  I  might  come 
even  to  His  seat ;"  and  did  not  this  faithful  man 
feel  as  Job  felt  when  the  patriarch,  in  the  excruciat- 
ing agony  of  inexpressible  pain  uttered  those  words 
of  faith,  "though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in 
Him"? 

Can  we  hesitate  to  believe  that  when  Lincoln  said 
on  Sept.  28,  1862,  "I  happen  to  be  an  humble  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  our  Heavenly  Father  as  I  am, 
and  as  we  all  are,  to  work  out  His  great  purposes ; 
I   have  desired   that   all  ray  works  and  acts  may  be 

54 


according  to  His  will,  and  that  it  might  he  so,  I  have 
sought  His  aid ;  but  if,  after  endeavoring  to  do  my 
best  in  the  light  which  He  affords  me,  I  find  my  efforts 
fail,  I  must  believe  that  for  some  purpose  unknown 
to  me  He  wills  it  otherwise?  Could  these  sentiments 
have  been  uttered  by  any  other  than  a  God-fearing, 
God-loving  and  religious  man? 

It  was  the  holy  influence  of  religious  feeling, — that 
divine  power  which  binds  immortal  man  to  the  ever 
living  God, — that  inspired  him,  in  pronouncing 
the  famous  address  he  made  when  he  was  the 
second  time  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  referring  to  the  great  civil  contest  which 
he  then  fervently  hoped  would  soon  close  and  be 
followed  by  a  permanent  peace,  to  declare:  "Both 
read  the  same  Bible  and  pray  to  the  same  God,  and 
each  invokes  His  aid  against  the  other.  It  may 
seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just 
God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the 
sweat  of  other  men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that 
we  be  not  judged.  The  prayer  of  both  could  not  be 
answered.  That  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully. 
The  Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  'Woe  unto 
the  world  because  of  offenses,  for  it  must  needs  be 
that  offenses  come,  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the 
offense  cometh.'  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American 
slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which,  in  the  Provi- 
dence of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which  having 
continued  through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills 
to  remove,  and  that  He  gives  to  both  North  and  South 

55 


this  terrible  war,  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom 
the  offense  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  de- 
parture from  those  divine  attributes  which  believers 
in  the  living  God  ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we 
hope — fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if  Good  wills 
that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bonds- 
man's two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil 
shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn 
with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with 
the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so 
still    it    must    be    said,    "that    the    judgments    of 

THE   LORD  ARE  TRUE  AND   RIGHTEOUS   ALTOGETHER/' 

"With  malice  towards  none ;  with  charity  for  all, 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the 
right,  let  us"  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in." 

You  are  to  be  especially  congratulated,  my  veteran 
friends,  because  in  offering  this  honor  to  the  memory 
of  Lincoln  at  the  close  of  the  19th  Century,  you  are 
placing  a  mile-stone,  which  shall  be  a  muniment  to 
the  progress  of  liberty ;  an  enduring  sign  for  all  who 
shall  come  after  us  and  a  beacon  of  light  for  all  men 
who  struggle,  and  hope  for  the  welfare  and  glorious 
destiny  of  the  human  race. 

It  will  honor  those  who  survive  you,  to  inscribe 
upon  the  monuments  which  will  indicate  the  place  of 
your  final  rest  those  beautiful  words : 

"Brave  men,  who,  rallying  to  your  country's  call, 
Went  forth  to  fight, — if  Heaven  willed,  to  fall! 

56 


Returned,  you  walk  with  us  through  sunnier  years, 
And  hear  a  Nation  say,  God  bless  you  all. 
"Brave  men,  who  yet  a  heavier  burden  bore, 

And  came  not  home  to  hearts  by  grief  made  sore ! 

They  call  you  brave,  but  so  you  grandly  live, 
Shrined  in  the  Nation's  love  forevermore !" 

Veterans  of  the  Memorial  Hall  Association :  I  can- 
not adequately  express  to  you  how  deeply  I  appre- 
ciate your  unselfish  efforts  to  properly  honor  and 
celebrate  the  birthday  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  regard 
it  as  supreme  evidence  of  your  undivided  loyalty  to 
the  great  principles  for  which  Lincoln  lived  and  gave 
up  his  life.  You  belong  to  that  diminishing  class  of  men 
who  once  marched  on  your  journey  to  the  temple  of 
liberty  at  the  command  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
who  fought  for  freedom  over  roads  cleared  by  bayo- 
nets and  moistened  with  blood.  You  marched  beneath 
a  flag  that  is  now  clean.  It  had  blood  on  it  once. 
Not  a  stain  now.  Its  stripes  were  once  the  emblem 
of  barbaric  slavery.  They  have  become  the  auroral 
lights  of  freedom. 

In  this  service  you  pay  a  proper  tribute  to  the  mem- 
ory and  life  of  the  greatest,  wisest,  noblest  and  most 
illustrious  man  of  the  19th  Century.  I  know  you  will 
join  me  in  spirit  and  sentiment  when  I  say  in  the 
language  of  that  American  poet,  whom  Lincoln  loved 
and  honored,  because  he  said  of  another  of  Ameri- 
ca's heroic  Presidents: 


57 


'Follow  now,  as  ye  list !     The  first  mourner  to-day 
Is  the  Nation,  whose  father  is  taken  away ! 

Wife,    children   and    neighbor   may   mourn   at   his 

knell, 
He  was  'lover  and  friend'  to  his  country  as  well. 
For  the  stars  of  our  banner,  grown  suddenly  dim, 
Let  us  weep  in  our  darkness — but  weep  not  for  him ! 
Not    for   him,    who    departing    leaves    millions    in 

tears ! 
Not   for   him, — who   has    died    full   of   honor   and 
years ! 
Not  for  him — who  ascended  Fame's  ladder  so  high, 
From  the  round  at  the  top  he  has  stepped  to  the  sky." 


58 


PRESS    OF 

UMBDENSTOCK-FRISKEY-PORTER   CO 

CHICAGO 


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